Shelter
by pineapplegoddess
Summary: Sequel to 'Shatter Me'. 2 months after the events of 'Shatter Me' Skyla and the group continue to try and figure out the anomalies. This time Lester hired security detail to follow them on these missions. Becker and Skyla clash constantly. Will they ever get along? Will she ever move on from Stephen? Slow Burn. Canon. Becker/OC
1. 2 Months Later

**Welcome back, my readers. I have begun the lovely journey of the Sequel to "Shatter me". This can be read without the first part but things might get a little confusing. I do suggest reading it to understand Skyla and her general development. This was one of the most voted stories in my poll. I appreciate feedback and adore it. Please do so if you feel the need. If you don't want to submit a review please feel free to message me directly. I love hearing from you. As stated in the description, this is canon just like the first one. Sorry. And this is a bit of a slow burn story in terms of a relationship. We can't just dive in with someone like Becker. It has to be developed like a photo. Anyway please enjoy it. **

I held the rum bottle up letting the last of the droplets hit my tongue. With a frown, I stumbled over to my fridge and pulled out a beer. Popping the top off I began to drink the cold, carbonated liquid.

Over the last two months, Connor had made plenty of strides with his gadgets in detecting what era the anomaly belonged in. We had gone to a dozen or so anomalies and seen many different creatures. I maybe had gone on a half a dozen or so of those missions.

After Stephens' death, I dove back into work within a week. Focused wholeheartedly on finding Helen and ridding the world of her. It got to the point where Nick and Lester forced me to take a leave of absence, especially after I had come into contact with an Ankylosaurus. They said I was playing with my life and jeopardizing the team. I didn't see it for that particular situation. I was distracting the dinosaur so Connor and Abby could get into position, so we could get the damn thing home. For lack of a better way to put it, I was temporarily suspended for a couple of weeks while I got my act together.

Today, however, had not been a good day. I got home two hours ago and started drinking. I wasn't a drunk, even after Stephen's death. No, I was sober most of the time. But now with Stephen's death still fresh and what I had to deal with today, well, I needed something to drown out the chaos.

I heard a knock at the front door. I walked as carefully as I could over to it, stumbling into the walls as I made it to the door. Looking through the peephole I saw it was Nick. I rolled my eyes as I opened the door. He had come over almost every other day for the last week to check on me. He stood there with two other men behind him. "Am I being arrested?" I asked, my words slurring just barely. Eyeing the two men behind him, they looked to be soldiers.

Nicks' head cocked to the side. "Are you drunk?" he asked. I looked down at the beer still in my hand and nodded bringing it up to my lips. I heard Nick let out a breath as he pushed me aside and walked into the house. The two other men also started to walk in when I put my hand up touching one of their chests to make them stop.

"What's up with the bodyguards?" I asked looking up to the one I had my hands on.

"Let them in, they're fine," Nick said from the kitchen. I eyed the soldier that was standing in front of me. I heard the tinkering of the empty bottles in the other room and realized my hand was still on the soldier's chest. I rolled my eyes and walked into the kitchen. "Jesus, Skyla, did you knock down a liquor store?"

"Sir, we really don't have time for this." The soldier said from behind me. I hadn't realized he had followed me as I looked him up and down still trying to come to terms that Nick had two soldier escorts.

I glanced over to Nick wondering what he was going to say in response to the passive-aggressive comment the soldier had made. Nick let out a sigh held a hand up in protest before he turned to me. "We need to go to the British Museum. There's been an anomaly sighting."

I shook my head. "No can do," I said as I swayed a little from the head motions and caught myself on the counter.

Nick looked around realizing just how many bottles of empty booze there were. He looked back to me with a quizzical look. "What happened?" he asked.

"He's dead." Nick let out a sigh before he walked a little closer to where I was standing. "Skyla, I know that. I miss him too-" I shook my head.

"No. Not Stephen. I got a call this morning. My grandfather died in his sleep." I walked around Nick, chugging down the rest of my beer and leaving it on the counter next to the others. "Besides aren't I still suspended?"

Nick took a deep breath. "Lester said you were suspended until we got new security. And well-" Nick gestured over to the two guards. I looked at the men up and down again.

"Pretty boy and wanna be muscles? That's cute." I said.

"Actually, it's Captain Becker and Garrett." the soldier I had my hand on earlier said.

I rolled my eyes at him and looked back at Nick. "Either way I can't obviously go," I said with a sway.

Nick walked over to me and embraced me in a hug. "I'm so sorry Skyla. Your grandfather was a good man." He whispered in my ear. Before we parted from the hug, he leaned in and kissed my forehead. I leaned against the counter as I watched them leave my house. The soldier, Becker, gave me a once over before he went through the door, closing it behind him.

I looked around my now empty kitchen taking everything in from the day. The call this morning was one I had been expecting for a while. After the time when Stephen, Nick and I visited him, his health went south. Even though it was expected, it didn't make it hurt any less. I spent all day going over paperwork with his care home and the cemetery. Per his wishes, he would be cremated and buried next to his wife. He didn't want a funeral or a fancy casket. He didn't want to be in an urn over a fireplace. He just wanted to be cremated then eventually buried next to his late wife. A couple of tears began to stream down my face. I was happy that he had it all planned out, there was no way I would be able to do all of this. I just had to sign off on everything saying it was okay to do so. My phone buzzed on the table, a text from Abby and Connor letting me know they were sorry for my loss. A small smile crept onto my lips.

In the last two months, all of us got a lot closer. We relied on each other and held the others up when they needed it. After Stephen, all of us were in our own little world. Nick blamed himself mostly for a couple of weeks. Until I slapped him across the face to hopefully knock some sense into him. He then finally realized my need to see Helen burn. It was Helen that collected the creatures in that warehouse. It was Helen who summoned all of us there in her own way. And finally, it was Helen who we rescued from being crushed and eaten that day.

With a long sigh, I walked out of the kitchen, turning the light off and stumbled down the hall to my room. I tripped over my shoe and collapsed on my bed, falling asleep almost immediately.


	2. Theories and Sarah

For once it wasn't the blinding light from the sun that woke me up but the consistent vibrating from my mobile. My head shot up as I looked around for it, frantically. I finally found it and answered the call. "Hello?" I said.

"Skyla, it's Connor. You wouldn't believe how amazing this is." He began. "I need you to look through the journal and see if you can find any information about the ancient Egyptians."

I sat up the rest of the way wondering what the hell he was talking about. "What now?" I asked as a slow pain began to radiate in my head. Another hangover I would have to battle the day with.

"Egyptians, specifically Ammut. She's a goddess with crocodile features. Or anything in the journal about magnetite." Connor said with excitement. I stood up tripping again on the same shoe as last night but catching myself on the door frame. I walked out into the lounge where the journal and various books were laying around. I picked up the journal and began flipping through it, post-it notes sticking out every which way.

"Alright, alright, alright. I'm looking." I said into the mobile.

"Call me back with any information you find," he said and ended the call. I scoured through the book looking for key phrases nothing catching my eye.

"What's the point in keeping a journal if it's never bloody useful," I muttered to myself as something from one of the pages caught my eye. I flipped back to the page full of theories. Theories that explained the unexplainable of our time. Alien abductions, bright lights in the sky, and various creatures that came up through time. It mentioned the odd gods and goddesses of ancient Egypt. "Well, I'll be damned. Connor, you're onto something." I tried calling Connor back but he wasn't answering. I rushed around the house, journal in hand and placed it in one of my bags and ran to take a shower.

After showering and dressing, making myself look like I wasn't on a bender I ran out the door to my car. Well, not my car per se but the ARC's car they let me have. As Lester put it, 'We can't have someone in your position always relying on a cab.'

I sped out of the parking spot and drove towards the ARC, my mind going a hundred miles a minute. I tried calling Connor again but no luck. I ran into Nick's office, ignoring the soldiers who tried to stop me. I walked over to the whiteboard and began writing where there was clear space.

Lester walked in with some of the soldiers around him. "Skyla, what on earth do you think you are doing?" he asked. I looked over to him, feeling like I looked crazed, as I wrote as fast as the theories came to my head.

"The anomalies explain what we cant!" I said as I continued writing on the board.

"Come again?" He said.

"Aliens, Loch Ness, Bigfoot, all the other cryptids! They come from the anomalies that's why we can't prove they exist or don't! They're always coming and going." I explained hastily. I looked over and could see the gears moving in Lester's mind.

"I'll leave you to it." He said backing away and leaving me to my thoughts.

Just then my mobile started vibrating. I looked down, it was Connor. "Connor! You're a brilliant man!" I yelled into the phone as he was yelling something back. "Okay, hold on you go first."

"The magnetite is magnetic! The anomalies are magnetic fields of energy. We can move them around and possibly close them with electricity!" He squealed out like a kid.

"That's fantastic!" I said almost forgetting what I had figured out.

"Your turn," he said.

"You have to see it! I'm in the office, I'll be here when you guys get here. Nick has to see this too." I said.

"Alright, hopefully not much longer," he said.

"See you soon," I said as the line went dead. I continued on writing all the things that we as a society collectively on earth couldn't explain.

I wheeled the board from Nick's office to his lab. As I did so I saw Abby, Connor and another woman standing in the main room. "Connor! Why didn't you tell me you guys were back?" I yelled out as I turned the whiteboard off the ramp and onto the main ground.

"We - we - uh- just got back." he sputtered out.

"Right, well hurry," I said as I walked with the board over to the lab.

"This is Dr. Sarah Page, by the way," Connor said introducing me to the woman I didn't recognize. I nodded in her direction. "Skyla Lock," I said as I continued walking.

"So this is what you do here, is it? You - um - deal with these anomalies as and when they occur?" She asked.

"This is what we do," Connor answered helping me wheel it into the lab.

"Can't believe I saw Ammut, well, what the Egyptians thought was Ammut. A genuine living legend." She said as we stopped in the lab. Nick and Lester already in there discussing something.

"Exactly!" I said causing Nick to turn around to me. "Alright, think of everything we cannot explain in the past or present. Aliens, Loch Ness, bright lights in the sky or in the woods, bigfoot. What if they are or are the creatures from the anomalies?" Nick, Connor, and Sarah looked surprised at my thoughts and thought about it for a moment.

"If Pristichampsus is sunning itself on the banks of the Nile 3,000 years ago, that's the stuff of legend." Nick wondered out loud. "Anything that seems out of place, out of time like-"

"Chimera, Pegasus.." Sarah started.

"The Yeti," Connor said.

"The Hydra," Sarah said.

"Yes! It's all of them! It's in the journal. I found a page of theories all of them, like that, are on it!" I said with a large excited smile.

"I've been looking at this all wrong, I've been thinking two-dimensionally," Nick said looking at his glass board. He looked over to all of us before he approached Sarah. "How much do you know about mythological beasts?"

"Well, my thesis on it is in the British Library," Sarah said. I could tell she was curious and excited at the same time.

"She stays," Nick said looking to Lester.

"Do I get a say in any of this?" Sarah asked.

"Yes, yes, of course. I would like you to join us here at the Anomaly Research Centre. I want you working on the source of all the great myths, where they were first spotted, when, by who. Can you find a pattern? Or you can go back to lecturing school kids. Your choice." Nick offered.

Sarah looked over to Connor and me, both of us grinning and hoping she would say yes. If she knew more information on this subject then fantastic. She could help us with this new breakthrough. "Okay, I'm in." She said. Connor and I let out a yes and fist-bumped.

"Great news, I feel safer already," Lester said. "Which reminds me, Skyla we need to get you and now Sarah a badge."

"Wait, what do we do about the sun cage?" Connor asked.

"Well the anomaly's closed, might not open for another 3,000 years, if ever," Lester said.

"Yeah but it's still a risk." Nick pointed out. "It's not as if it can be on public display anymore."

"Happily, that's not our decision to make. The Culture Minister tells me the exhibition's moving on." Lester said with a hint of a smirk. Happy it was now out of our hands completely.


	3. Haunted Houses

We had begun working on a matrix of sorts, a 3-D model of the universe. Nick had it in his head that he could pinpoint all of the times an anomaly occurred in time. With the help of Sarah, we were able to tell the times within a couple of hundred years of when sightings of creatures had occurred.

My job, when I wasn't getting more supplies for the model, was scouring through the journal and logging specific era's my grandfather had seen or gone through and textbooks trying to figure out what animals he was talking about and eras. This was my third trip to the hardware store this week. Nick's mind was pouring out information faster than any of us could comprehend. It was something truly magical to see.

I pulled up to the gates of the ARC, smiling as I showed one of the guards my badge. Lester really went above and beyond when he hired this security team. It comforted me just a little, knowing that Lester obviously wanted to avoid what happened to Stephen again. It showed me the little man cared about us, even when he rarely showed it. However, it was overboard. I pulled into my spot in the garage and fumbled as I tried to grab all of the pipes and other materials at once. I scanned my badge and walked clumsily through the door. I could feel the pipes moving in my hands, knowing they were going to fall out of them. I made it to the next checkpoint of security when one of the pipes fell.

"Badge?" Malcolm said.

"Really, Malcolm? You just saw me leave an hour ago." I tried to keep all of the materials in my hands and remember where I put my badge even though I just used it.

"It's protocol, Skyla," he explained. I rolled my eyes as another pipe fell out of my grasp.

With a state of sudden frustration, I threw all the pipes to the ground, creating a louder noise than I was expecting. I looked up to Malcolm to apologize when I noticed Captain Becker down the hall staring in my direction. I was instantly more irritated than before. There was something about him that drove me up a wall. Thinking he was all that with being the head of security and a soldier. The judging eyes he gave not just myself, but everyone made me want to slap the smugness on his face.

I pulled my badge out of my back pocket and handed it to Malcolm. Trying to ignore the fact that Becker was walking towards us. "Afternoon Skyla." He said as Malcolm scanned the badge. "Your badge should be in plain view at all times." Malcolm handed me back my badge as I clipped it to my trouser pocket. I gave Becker a fake smile as I picked up the pipes and other materials and gathered them. Becker didn't even offer to assist.

"No, it's ok. I have it." I said below my breath as I walked passed the two guards.

I walked down the hallway to Nick's office and placed the pipes in the corner with the remaining few from my last trip. I stared at the model in wonderment. It was confusing at first, trying to jump inside Nick's mind. I was just glad he was no longer blaming himself for Stephen. He had something to keep his mind off of it and Helen.

Nick and Sarah walked into his office, continuing to discuss whatever they were discussing. You could tell his mind was going a thousand miles a minute. "Skyla, thanks for the materials. Will you go with Abby and Connor to the anomaly?" he said. I stood a little befuddled for the moment. I looked over to Sarah for clarification. She was a sweet lady, humorous like the rest of us but wicked smart when it came to history.

She looked over in my direction. "He thinks he may have figured out where the next anomaly is. But he doesn't know when it will appear. So Abby and Connor are going to check it out." She clarified.

I turned back to Nick. "Oh? So I've been cleared to go back on missions officially?" I folded my arms to my chest, knowing he had not cleared me with Lester.

Nick looked over to me, forgetting what he was doing. "Yes, I need you out there too," he said.

I smirked to him and grabbed my jacket and walked out into the hall. I looked back through the door. "You know this will piss off Lester," I said. Nick smiled at me with a small hint of a chuckle before he continued on his project.

Abby and Connor just passed me as they walked towards the garage. "Hold up!" I yelled as I ran over to them. "I'm apparently coming with you. The mad scientist said so." They both looked at me with smiles. They didn't view our last mission as me being out of control or not caring for their safety. They understood why I had to do what I had to do. "Any Ideas on what it might be? The Era? Anything?" I asked as we settled into the car.

Jenny came to the drivers' side of the car that we were in. "I'll follow you." She said before she noticed me in the back. "Have you been cleared?" She asked.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Just doing what the scientist said to do." Connor and Abby laughed as she put the car into drive.

"In answer to your question, no we have no idea. Basically a theory we need to check." Connor answered my previous question as we rode down the street.

Thankfully the anomaly sight was not too far away, giving myself less time to lose sight of what we were doing. It was the silent moments, the moments we were told to think quietly, that my mind went through a spiral. Unlike Nick, it only took a couple of days for me to not blame myself for Stephens death. I went through all the stages pretty obvious to others. The longest stage I was in was anger, and if I really thought about it, I guess you could say I was still in that stage. I had accepted the fact that he was gone, just like I had accepted the fact that my grandfather had passed a couple of days ago. I was just angry that Helen had come into my life and taken Stephen from me.

We stopped along the street, parking the cars. "It looks like it's just past those trees," Connor said looking at one of his many devices. We all got out of the cars and waited for each other. With a nod, we walked through the trees, past a runners' path and came to a bridge. A home laid on the other side of the river. "This is the place," Connor said checking his device one last time.

"Really?" I asked as we looked at the house. It looked cozy and well like home, in an almost haunted house type of way. Connor nodded his head. "This is where Cutter predicted the anomaly will open."

"Then we better check it out," Jenny said. I looked over to her, her eyes still glued to the home.

Connor looked over to Jenny. "Then what? We just sit, twiddling our thumbs until an anomaly appears?"

Shrugging her shoulders before she spoke Jenny continued to stare at the home. "Something like that." She and Abby began walking towards the bridge.

"Hold me back. I don't think I can take the excitement." Connor said looking over to me. I let out a laugh as we continued to the bridge.

"Connor, what if we created something that we could leave at each anomaly site? Like, something small that's almost virtually indestructible that we could use to determine when an anomaly would reopen. Obviously we have to work with the magnetism thought process more with it, but in theory, couldn't that work?" I said as we crossed the bridge.

Connor looked back to me a little with a smirk. "I mean in theory we could do something like that. We just need more information."

"Obviously," I said as we made it to the other side.

The house was even more beautiful the closer we were, but obviously very much abandoned. Part of me was sad and wondered what happened here for it to be abandoned. "Gorgeous place really," I muttered out as Connor walked up to the porch, hitting the wind chimes as he went. He tried the door but it was locked, so he walked down the porch to look inside. Abby, Jenny and I walked up to the door. "Seems quiet enough," Abby said as Jenny rang the doorbell. I didn't know what she was expecting, no one would be coming to the door. Just as she leaned closer to the glass on the door to peek inside Connor opened the door startling all of us. "Oh, Connor," Jenny said.

Abby and I exchanged an amused look. "Window was open. Nobody in." Connor said.

"Obviously no one is in. This place has been abandoned." I said as we walked into the house.

"What happened here?" Jenny asked.

"God, it's even more gorgeous on the inside," I muttered again in awe of the woodwork. Connor gave me a side look. "Hey, I can appreciate things that are not in creature form." He let out a laugh and walked over to Abby.

"This place must be worth millions. Why has it just been left?" Abby said as she continued to look around.

"Now that's the million-dollar question," I said as we continued looking.

"The smell? Stinks in here." Connor said.

"Could be the sewers. Or moisture." Jenny said.

"It stinks cause someone left the window open when they abandoned it. Who knows what's been living here with all the leaves on the ground and left furniture." I said.

"I agree with Skyla, it smells like they've been keeping animals," Abby confirmed.

"What kind of animals? Skunks?" Connor said as Jenny and Abby began walking up the staircase. "Oh," Connor said as he tossed the device to Abby to detect anomalies. Connor and I walked around the downstairs as they went up.

Connor and I walked into the kitchen, he looked in the fridge as I looked through the doors and cupboards. "There's nothing here. I doubt anyone honestly has lived here in at least a couple of years." I looked over to Connor to see if he had heard me. "I have a feeling something bad happened here." Connor looked over to me then. He was about to say something when his mobile phone began to ring.

"Hello?" he said answering it. I could faintly hear someone talking on the other end when a scream that sounded like Abby, filled the house. I ran towards where I thought I heard the scream. "I'll call you back." I heard Connor say behind me as his footfalls caught up with mine. We walked into an orange bright room. Abby was nowhere in sight.

"Abby?" Connor and I both called out. There was a rattling sound coming from the fireplace and ash began to fall from the chute.

Connor and I looked at each other as we walked towards the fireplace with caution. "GOT YOU!" Abby screamed as she jumped on Connor. "Jesus!" I said startled.

"That was childish," Connor said as I tried not to laugh.

"Were you scared?" Abby asked.

"No," Connor answered too quickly. Then nodded, "A little bit."

I noticed the look that was in Connors' eyes as he stared at Abby, still trying to catch his breath. I smiled a small smile and tried to blend into the wall. It was finally going to happen, they were going to kiss. My heart fluttered at the sight of the two. And then Abby turned away. "Thought you in trouble, didn't I?" Connor said, the situation now awkward. "Yeah. And you came to rescue me." Abby answered.

"Yeah," Connor said still a little dumbfounded on how the events were turning out.

"Thank you," Abby said kissing his cheek. I rolled my eyes. "Do you know why I like this place?" She said as she walked around the room. "It's fun." She said and walked off to where Connor and I had come from.

"Yeah," Connor said looking off after her.

"You know, Connor. You should just go for it." I said and patted his shoulder. "She's not going to wait around for you forever."

He looked down at me like I had slapped him across the face. I smiled up at him remembering Stephen giving him advice about Abby. Before I could feel the emotions tugging at me, I walked off after Abby.


	4. The Silurian Man

We all met back up near the staircase. "I don't see anything here remotely anomaly like," I said. Abby nodded as she handed the device back to Connor for confirmation. He looked a little disheartened and nodded his head as well.

Jenny leads the way to the front door. "Well, that was eventful." She said sarcastically as she opened the door and walked out. Stopping almost instantly. Abby, Connor and I followed suit.

"It's a nice place, isn't it?" a man said at the bottom of the porch. He held out a police badge before he turned around to face us. "Do you care to explain what you are doing here?"

"Just visiting," Jenny said as we all stood behind her, letting her take the wheel.

"Well, the way I see it, you're either burglars or trespassers." the man said putting his badge away.

"Do we look like burglars to you?" Jenny said as she approached the man. Connor and Abby let out a giggle, it was always amusing to watch Jenny work.

"Well, I'm pretty sure I've seen laughing boy on a wanted poster, yeah," he said. I looked over to Connor, the smile fading from his face. "He talking about me?" Connor whispered to Abby.

"He's having a laugh," I said looking at the man. He caught my remark but before he could say anything Jenny walked closer to him.

"Oi, Officer-" she began before he interrupted.

"Detective Constable Quinn." He corrected her. "And you are?"

I noticed Jenny begin to look around, not quite panicked but I could feel her tension, not wanting to tell him our true identities. We were a secret organization after all. "We're property developers." She said.

"You're lying," Quinn said, seeing right through it. "I should arrest you all, but to be quite frank, I can't be bothered. You people aren't worth the paperwork. Now go." he urged. Jenny began walking back towards the bridge. Abby and I followed suit with a reluctant Connor behind us. We all gave the man a questionable look as we passed him. "What do you mean, 'you people'?" Connor asked. All of us stopped and turned to him.

The man glared in our direction. "Murder tourists. You make me sick. Now, get out." Quinn said with mild aggression. "And if I see you 'round here again, your feet won't touch the ground. You understand?"

Abby walked over to Connor grabbing his arm. "Come on." She said as we encouraged him to walk away. "Do you know what? Can I just say that I think the police do a fantastic job? And you know the occasional lapse into the cliche is completely understandable in the circumstances." Connor said walking back up to the officer. Abby walked up behind him like he was a child. "Connor-" she said to him as she pulled him back down to where Jenny and I stood, waiting by the bridge.

Once we were across the bridge, Jenny stopped in front of us. "There's something strange going on in there," she said as we gathered around each other. "Abby and Skyla, stay here. If anything out of the ordinary happens, call us."

"Where are you going?" Abby asked as Jenny began walking back to our vehicles.

"To get some answers," Jenny said as she reached the cars. "Connor, you're coming with me!" She yelled back sensing that Connor had not followed her.

Abby and I gave him a passive look as he followed Jenny. I looked back over to the house, the officer still stood there, looking up at the rafters. We looked around and walked along the path for a bit to wait for the officer to leave. Once he did we walked back over the bridge and sat on the porch swing. "So, how's Connor?" I asked her as we enjoyed the relative silence of the place. She looked over at me with a smirk.

"What about him?" She asked coyly.

"Oh come on. You know what I mean. Earlier today when we were in the house he gave you those puppy dog eyes after you scared us. You like him back, don't you?" I said. Abby actually blushed a little. "For what it's worth, he's been pining for you since I've been a part of this, probably before." I let out a giggle. "Remember the first time we had an anomaly with me on the team?" She looked over and nodded. "Connor was asking Stephen for advice on how to ask you out, or just express his feelings for you." I looked down at my hands knowing that the mention of Stephen, she would be looking over to me.

There were a couple of moments before she spoke. "He was pretty knowledgeable," Abby said. I looked over to her with a smirk.

"Hopefully now that everything has calmed down a bit, he'll put those moves on you," I said with a smirk. Abby erupted in laughter, not being able to contain it I erupted in laughter as well.

Abby and I hardly ever got these moments, but we both enjoyed them. My mobile began to vibrate in my pocket. I reached down expecting it to be Jenny. I was only mildly surprised when I saw Nick's name and answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Skyla." Nick's voice was off.

"What is it?" I said the humor and fun from my voice completely gone. I noticed Abby sit up straighter next to me.

"You remember the man from the Silurian?" He asked. A chill went down my spine as I remembered the random soldier on that day, his screams echoed in my mind.

"How could I forget," I said forcing my voice to work.

"He's back."

I stared out across the river not believing a word that I was hearing. "How could that be? We watched him die."

"I don't know. Becker shot him in the locker room trying to steal my clothes. He stole Sarah's badge and got in." He explained.

"I'm on my way," I said into the phone and hung up. I looked over at Abby. "The soldier that died in the Silurian somehow just tried to rob Nick and Becker killed him." Abby looked at me with wide eyes.

"Go, I'll be fine here. Something's not right." She said. I nodded a thank you as she handed me the keys to the truck. "I'll call Jenny and let her know, she'll be back here soon anyway."


	5. Security Breach

The moment I parked the truck and passed security I admitted to myself that I was pissed. Becker thought he was the shit and had this all under control when obviously he didn't. As I walked down the hall I saw the man in question standing, talking to one of his 'soldiers'. "Your security system is shit," I said walking up to him. He looked over to me and the man he was speaking with walked away. "Excuse me?" he said looking just as angry as I was.

"You heard me, Becker. Your system is shit. How did no one notice someone else using Dr. Pages' badge? Huh? Nevertheless, it was a man using her badge." I yelled at him. "You think you know what you're doing but you don't." I glared at him and he glared right back.

There was a moment where I thought I could punch him with how angry I was. A brief moment my mind thought about what would happen if he hit me. Before anything further could be done or said my name came from down the hall. "Skyla! Becker! In here." Nick said from one of the labs. I broke eye contact to see where he was and with one last look to Becker walked to the lab. I noticed Sarah on the opposing wall as I settled on the same side of the room as Nick. "I was updating Dr. Page on what happened earlier. I believe this is a discussion that should involve the four of us," he explained.

Sarah looked between Becker and me, sensing the tension, before shaking her head and continuing her thoughts. "Cutter, this guy was eaten by a giant scorpion in the Silurian desert." She said looking at her hands then to Nick. "I'd say that makes him fairly dead."

She pointed out the obvious that both Nick and I knew. The man that we watched perish before our eyes with that little girl at our sides. I could never forget that man's face or his screams. I shuddered as I thought of Stephen's last moments as they rudely invaded my thoughts. "I didn't say it made sense," Cutter said, glancing over to me for assistance.

I shook my head trying to rack my brain for any logical explanation and trying to get all the memories out of my current thoughts. "Alright, it's his identical twin." Becker points out with amusement.

Something in me snapped and I wanted to physically lash out at the man. I contained my anger and looked over to him trying to remain as calm as possible. "This isn't a soap opera. There's no identical twin." I snapped glaring in his direction.

The room went silent for a moment, the growing tension was rising. Nick cleared his throat drawing attention back to the situation. "Even so, what's he doing here and going through my laundry?"

I shook my head, it didn't make any sense. My heart stopped for a moment as I tried to rack my brain for anything, literally anything else. "You killed his brother, so he steals your shirt," Becker said having a laugh with Sarah. "Look, you said it yourself. It doesn't make sense."

My voice cracked as I tried to speak. I cleared my throat and spoke my fear. "There's another option," I said looking over to Nick. "Helen."

Nick nodded his head as he thought about it. "Maybe she does have something to do with this. She employed the guy before." We stared at each other, both of us feeling the weight of the possibility of her being back. The possibility of her toying with us, with our friends, with our lives.

"Hmm. well, so now she's brought him back from the dead?" Becker said grabbing all of our attention. "Well, she's scarier than I thought."

I shook my head. "You can't even begin to guess how horrible this woman is," I said using the most down to earth voice I could. Some would say it was a pleading voice to Becker.

Nick nodded in my direction. "Rule number one. If something inexplicable happens, Helen's usually behind it. Trust me. She's back." Cutter said.

Silence enveloped the room. Neither Becker nor Sarah had ever met Helen, they had no idea how she really was, what losses she had personally caused with our tiny team. I glanced at Becker, he still had a ghost of a smirk on his face at the situation. I shook my head, disappointed in the man and his lack of calm about a situation where any reaction but calm was called for. Before the conversation could continue, I exited the room.

I walked down the hall, thinking of everything Helen had caused. Thinking I saw her around every corner, taunting me. I let out a shaky breath as I rounded the corner, thankful it was empty. I let out a large sigh as Stephen's image invaded my thoughts. The sad yet determined look on his face right before he was killed by a raptor and various other beasts. His 'I love you' echoed in my brain. I let out a sob as I collapsed to the floor. I felt the wetness of my tears hit my arm, not even realizing I had started to cry.

I felt arms wrap around mine, slowly lifting me up. I was enveloped in a hug. I don't know how long we stood there, how long I actually cried, as Nick stroked the back of my head and whispered in my ear that it was alright.

When I was finally composed we walked into his office in silence. Neither one of us spoke for several moments, not knowing what to say. Both of us fooling each other thinking we were over our last encounter with Helen. Nick cleared his throat as he nudged a glass of water in my direction. I slowly reached out to it and sipped the cool water, unaware where it came from. "Becker is new to this security thing. He will understand to trust us soon. As you know, trust takes time." Nick said. I let out a scoff, I knew he was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt but come on.

I looked up to him, my tear-streaked face pulling a little at the skin. "He's gonna make a mistake. I can't watch another friend die because of Helen." I choked out, surprised at my own voice.

He gave me a knowing nod. "Yes, but we all make mistakes. It's the human thing to do." I gave him an incredulous look before he continued. "I'll agree, he doesn't believe us. But why should he?" My brows furrowed a bit as he continued. "He just met both of us. He doesn't know what we've been through, just the stories. He doesn't trust us. Give him time and a break."

Even though I didn't admit it out loud, Nick was right. Becker was new, he probably thought of all of us as crazy nerds who got into trouble. I gave him a small nod and sipped on the water again, not wanting to admit the agreeance out loud.

Before anything else could be said Nick's mobile rang. He looked at me with a small smile and answered it. I could hear Connor's excited voice on the other line. Nick was right, the anomaly had come back as he predicted. Connor asked about the mystery man and if we were all alright. Nick gave me a look before he explained that Becker thought we were all crazy.

I got up to leave Nick with his conversation with Connor. I looked back at the man one last time before I walked out the door. I don't know what I would have done in the last couple of months without Nick. I mean we were both wrecks but at least we were able to pull each other out of the depths of chaos. I smiled at him and rounded the corner as Becker sent out a security team to the house Connor and Abby were at.

I wanted to tell Becker that I was sorry about earlier, about being rough on him and that I understood his viewpoint. Hell, a couple of months ago he didn't even know what ARC was. Let alone that dinosaurs, as well as other prehistoric creatures, had a gateway. I walked up to him before I registered what I was doing. Ready to apologize. It was then that I overheard one of the soldiers talk about how Abby was left at the house and was knocked out. My apology evaporated the moment my mouth opened.

"Is she alright?" I asked the soldier who was talking about her. He nodded before he walked off with the others. I looked over to Becker, holding my temper in. "You should have had a team out there with her."

Becker turned to me, clenching his jaw. "I much rather be out there, where I am obviously needed, than here chasing after ghosts."

His words stung, more than he probably realized. I took a step closer to him out of instinct. I don't know if it was meant to be threatening but my small height compared to him was laughable, even I could tell. "How unprofessional of you. Not being able to handle your own security in the field, apparently where you are needed most. And you can't even handle it here when you were truly needed as well."

He looked up behind me before he clenched his jaw again and looked down at me. "Coming from someone who was drunk when they were on call, it doesn't mean a whole lot to me." He spat back. Before I knew what was happening the sting from my palm made what I had just done more real. I had just slapped Becker across the face. Before he could react I felt arms around my torso pulling me away. "Instead of being an ass why don't you ask us what is needed around here you shit!" I screamed at him and Nick yelled behind me sternly to calm down. Once he deemed it safe he released me.

"Go home." He said. His tone held authority still but with a hint of disappointment. I went to open my mouth then thought better of it and walked to the locker room to grab my bag and go home.


	6. Hospital

It had been a couple of days since the security breach at the ARC. Lester had called a meeting with Nick, Becker and I about it and the very public fight that had happened. Lester explained that the actions would not be tolerated again but he understood the reasoning behind it. He made Becker look foolish for not taking the threat of Helen more seriously. Needless to say, Lester made us all agree to disagree and be cordial with one another.

I sat at one of the tables near Connor going through texts and my grandfathers' journal to see if there was any more evidence on the anomalies themselves. We wanted to figure out how to close them and with the magnetic energies that we had already figured out, we weren't that far away from it. "How did it feel to smack him?" Connor asked breaking the concentrated silence.

I looked up at him trying not to smile in pride. "I'm not allowed to talk about it," I said knowing that Lester was probably hovering around the corner within earshot. "But it was nice," I whispered.

Connor let a smile break out across his face. Before he could say anything else the alarm went off, signaling an anomaly. Connor took the lead in rushing over to the computers to see where it was at. I followed closely behind and as he searched for it many of the others came to attention as well. "It's a hospital," Connor says looking at the screens.

Connor and I looked over to Nick who just nodded as we all scattered knowing what we needed to do to get ready. Nick and I grabbed what we needed and walked out to the cars. Nick and I sat in the car before Abby and Connor came into the garage. "I feel there is something I need to share with you," I said as I pulled out one of Stephens' handguns from my waistband.

"Skyla, why do you have that?" Nick said looking concerned. I held the gun in my hand, remembering the first time I had held it on Stephens' and my date. I felt a pang of jealousy from my past self.

I looked over to him before I place it back in its holster, hidden by my shirt and waistband. I looked out the window seeing Becker and his men get into their car. I knew he took his job seriously and after our meeting with Lester, I knew he would be taking extra precautions. Neither one of us had spoken to each other, not having anything to say really. I noticed Abby and Connor walking towards us. I let out a sigh. "With the threat of Helen being around, I can't take the risk of her hurting one of you. You can never be too prepared." I said as the others got into the car. Nick looked at me knowing there was nothing he could say and put the car into gear.

We walked into the hospital, it seemed that everything was going fine as far as hospitals were concerned. No one was really screaming about seeing a creature or running around trying to find a way out. It was oddly calm. "Becker, take your men. Look for any creature activity." Nick said as we crowded around the front desk. Becker walked past me with some of his men, I could feel his side glance to me as he continued to walk on. It was peculiar. I thought I would be able to feel the tension as he walked by, needless to say, it wasn't as strong as I was expecting.

The lights began to flicker as Connor, Nick, Abby and I stood there. "Power cut," Nick said as we all looked up to the ceiling. Sparks came out of one of the ducts for air.

"It could be interference from the anomaly, or it could a creature," I stated allowed, not really expecting an answer.

"I doubt that anomalies could cause sparks," Connor said softly to me. I looked over to him, he had a point but I was just hoping for the easiest outcome.

Nick looked over to the three of us. "Hospitals backup generator should kick in any minute, come on." Abby and Cutter walked off to find the anomaly in one direction. Connor and I walked off in the other.

"Sparks aside, the anomaly could be affecting the electricity. What if there was a bum wire up there and it was sparking due to the interference? It's a possibility." I pointed out to the nerd. He smirked to me and shrugged his shoulders.

"It's the fun of the job." He stated as we continued to walk.

It wasn't that I didn't want to find a new creature from the past, it was the highlight of my job. Just ever since Helen broke-in, I felt uneasy. Felt like something wasn't quite right with the world.

We turned the corner and ran into Becker and his men. "Oh hell," I muttered under my breath.

Becker looked to Connor and I. "We have this side of the hospital covered." He stated.

I looked over to Connor and then to him. "That's great but you guys are looking for safety and creatures. Were looking for the anomaly so we need to check this side of the hospital." I tried with every fiber of my being to be nice and sound at the very least neutral. When I was finished speaking I could hear the hostility in my own voice.

Beckers' shoulders relaxed for a moment before tensing back up. He pursed his lips before speaking. "And if we come across it, we will notify you." The sternness of his tone made me tense, knowing that this was going to head into another argument.

"We should really concentrate on finding the anomaly." I heard Connor say behind me as I stepped closer to Becker. "We could always join forces." The last part barely came out in a whisper.

"Or we could take a look ourselves. Remember you are the Braun we are the brains." I said not holding back any of my emotions.

Before Becker could say anything a scream came from a room down the hall from us. It was like someone flipped a switch as Becker, Connor and I all began to work together. "Check that hall," Becker told his men pointing to an adjacent hall. He held up his gun and lead the way to investigate the screams.

As we neared where we thought we heard the screams, a pregnant woman walked out of the door. I pushed past Becker and walked over to the woman. "Are you alright ma'am?" I asked grasping her arm in my hands for comfort and support. She looked at me her eyes wide. "There was something in my room." her voice shook out. I looked up to Becker and nodded as we walked to the woman's room.

Becker opened the door slowly not knowing what to expect on the other side. "It went through a hole in the wall, there." She said pointing at the wall, her other arm still in my hands.

Connor walked over to where Becker was standing to inspect the hole in the wall. "What did?" Connor asked.

I walked the woman over to her bed and let her take a seat. "Thank you." She said looking to me then over to Connor. "I don't know. A ratty, chipmunk, beaver kind of thing." the woman said.

"Well, that narrows it down," Connor said and pulled out his mobile. He looked over to me as he began speaking on the phone. "Cutter, we might have a problem."

I walked closer to where the men were, Connor walked towards the door continuing to speak with Nick. I bent down and look at the hole. "Careful," Becker said. I couldn't tell if it was a genuine warning or sarcasm.

I glared at him before giving my attention to the hole. "Those are teeth marks," I muttered to myself. I looked into the hole wanting to see how far it went. Surely it couldn't have a maze of holes yet? I looked over to Becker and his flashlight. "Let me see your torch." He looked like he was going to say something smart but handed it over. I shined the light into the hole. It was deep, deeper than I thought it would be.

Before I could say anything or investigate more into the mysterious hole Nick was at the door. He walked over and inspected the hole nodding to himself and motioned us to follow him. Beckers men joined us as we walked down the hall discussing what we know so far about this anomaly. Apparently, Nick and Abby had found it in a separate wing in the hospital where there was an identical hole like the one we were just looking at. "Okay, so how did she describe this creature, apart from the whole 'ratty, chipmunk' thing?" Nick asked.

Connor answered since he had spoken with the woman more than I had. "Right, about so big. Protruding teeth, large and some claws." He said using his hands to demonstrate the size.

Becker walked up next to me as I walked behind Connor and Nick. "We've had three other reported sightings," he said. I couldn't help but glare at him as he walked next to me.

I shook my head of my childish acts and spoke my thoughts allowed related to the anomaly. "So we're looking for some type of large rodent that can literally chew through walls," I stated the only thing we knew about the creature.

The lights began to flicker again stopping us in the hallway. "Well, there could be dozens of them in here. Okay, I need you both to get this place evacuated, now." Nick said looking to me, Connor and Becker.

Connor and I nodded to our fearless leader, more like a mentor. "Sure," Becker said as he walked off with his men. Nick continued walking in the direction we were going as Connor and I began stopping people in the hallway, letting them know we needed to evacuate the hospital.


	7. Diictodons

We had the nurses make an announcement over the speakers about the evacuation that was in progress. Unfortunately, we had met back up with Becker, checking to make sure the patients had all truly left. His men went off on their own to check the other wing of the hospital.

We walked through each room, Becker pointing his gun at everything ready to shoot at a moment's notice. "Anything?" Connor asked.

"No," Becker said.

"Do you plan on shooting patients or any helpless creature that crosses your path? Or even both?" I asked when Connor's mobile rang.

"I'm prepared for anything." He said looking to me with a sense of frustration.

"Cutter?" Connor's voice brought my attention back to where it needed to be. "We're on our way." Connor said turning to Becker and I. "Where are the operating theatres?" he asked.

We shook our heads. "No idea," Becker admitted.

"We need to find someone that works here," Connor said.

"Most of the personnel have evacuated," I said wondering how we could get our way around the hospital.

Becker scoffed and walked in front of me looking to Connor. "I'm a trained soldier, I can find my way around a hospital," he said.

"Really? That's the cocky attitude you're going to go with?" I said behind him, he slowly turned around. Ignoring his look I turned my attention to Connor. "Even if most of the personnel have gone, we should try to find one of the remaining nurses and ask where the theatres are at."

Becker scoffed again. "I've got this," Becker said with a smirk and walked out of the room. I looked over to Connor, rolling my eyes before we both took off after the soldier.

I felt like I was a cop running around with a bloodhound on the scent trail of a victim. Of course, the bloodhound being Becker. We had been running around for about 15 minutes, it felt longer and like we were running in circles. "How difficult can it be to find an operating theatre in a hospital?" Becker said getting frustrated.

Before I could open my mouth to say any smart remark going through my mind Connor spoke up. "What was that you were saying about being a trained soldier?" He mocked. Before anything else could be said sparks began to fall from the ceiling followed by a couple of thuds. "Catch it," Becker said pointing his gun to the ceiling.

"What do you mean 'catch it'?" Connor asked.

"We don't even know what it is!" I said.

"Catch it," Becker said nudging Connor toward the scuttling in the ceiling. I scoffed at Becker and walked behind Connor looking for something to catch the unknown creature with. I noticed the linen cart and moved it over to Connor. "Right. Just get under it." Connor said.

"Yeah," Becker said behind us, gun still pointed, as we followed the noise.

All of a sudden the creature fell through the ceiling and into the cart. Connor looked over to me with a smirk as Becker came closer. We looked into the cart to see the creature shakes its head and look up at us.

"Hello mate," Connor said chuckling. "My name's Connor. This is... " Connor said introducing himself and was about to introduce Becker then looked to me. "This is Skyla. How are you? If I'm not mistaken you're a diictodon, right?"

I peered in closer. "I'd say so. Permian Era. Herbivores and burrowers. Makes sense with the holes in the walls." I confirmed I glanced over to Becker, a small smile covered his face at the small creature. Once he looked over and noticed me watching he stood up clearing his throat.

"Come on Connor." He said seriously as he covered the cart with a sheet.

We continued to walk through the halls and into empty rooms looking for Abby and Cutter. When the diictodon began to squeal. "What is it mate?" Connor said looking under the linen. "Hey? What are you trying to tell me?"

"Oh, fantastic. Now he's Dr. Doolittle." Becker said.

Connor shh'ed him and stood up. The noise could be heard throughout the hospital. "He wasn't making that noise before," Connor said. "You hear that?" Becker nodded his head.

"Is it a distress call?" I asked aloud.

"Follow me," Connor said as he began pushing the cart. We followed the noise until we found a door at the end of the hall with a barricade in front of it. "Sorry, we-" Connor said as Becker burst into the room.

"Whoa, whoa," Becker said as I peaked in between them, seeing the pregnant woman from before, now with a babe in her arms. A nurse came to my side as I let her pass tapping Connor on the shoulder. She walked over to the woman as we stepped out. "So who locked you in?" Becker asked as him and Nick walked off. "I don't know."

Abby walked over with something in her arms, a sly smile on her face. She showed Connor and me, she had a diictodon in her arms. Connor and I gave each other a look before he reached and showed her what was in the linen cart. "Looks like they missed the last bus home," Connor said.

"They're so adorable together," I said looking at the two diictodons.

"What are we to do with them?" Abby said.

"We keep them," Connor replied.

"Yeah," Abby said.

"For now," I said as he covered the linen cart back up. "We can't let Nick or Lester know. I won't say a word as long as I can come to visit." We all laughed and walked out of the hospital with the diictodons.


	8. Helen

**Just a gentle reminder this is canon... you know what that means. If you don't stop reading and go watch Primeval because... spoilers!**

We pulled into the ARC, Connor and Abby check on the diictodons in the back of the truck. Nick and I got out of the car and walked around trying to decide what to do with the diictodons, even though I knew, and in reality, he knew as well. "They should have checked our passes," Becker said as he joined Nick and me.

Nick turned to Becker after giving me a look."Yeah, your men are getting slack."

Becker looked between the two of us. "You guys go on ahead. I'm gonna have a little word with security." Becker said as he walked off towards his security team.

I looked up to Nick rolling my eyes. "Ever the macho soldier," I muttered to him.

He smirked to me. "I think you like him," he said.

I let out a fake boisterous laugh. "You're having a laugh. He's an idiot." I said to him as we followed Connor and Abby through the doors. We walked down the hall, something wasn't right. There was hardly any personnel around. Hell, usually Lester greeted us after a mission to check for damages at the very least. "It's too quiet," I said as we made it to the doors to the main room.

Connor and Abby pushed them open. "Somethings not right," Abby said when no one was on the other side. The place was completely deserted. "Where is everyone?" Connor said as we all cautiously moved forward.

Once we made it to the middle of the room we heard guns cocking behind us. We spun around to see a couple of the same exact Silurian guys, clones for lack of a better word, and Helen standing on the balcony above us.

Nick looked to her then turned to us with a look of hatred. We watched as an exact replica of Nick came walking through the doors we just came through. None of us could say anything in pure shock. We just stared as the replica stopped behind him. "It- it's you," Connor said stunned.

Nick turned around and came face to face with his clone. No one could say anything at all. We were all in pure shock that not only this was happening but Nick had a clone. "Put Connor and Abby with the others," Helen said from above.

My attention went from the two Nicks to her. I couldn't help but glare at her presence. "Hello, Skyla." She said with a smirk. I felt the weight of my gun in my waistband.

Connor and Abby made their way back to the door we just came out of. I watched as Helen's focus was on them walking out of the room. I snaked my hand around to the gun. Once Connor and Abby were completely out of the room, safe, I would grab it and shoot her ending this charade once and for all.

She walked over to one of the clones she had made of the Silurian guy. I watched as the doors shut behind Conner and Abby and drew the gun firing up at her, barely grazing her thigh. As I was about to shoot again, this time with better aim, another shot rang off. The sudden searing pain in my shoulder caused me to drop the weapon and let out a yelp. "Silly girl." She said as she walked down the ramp to where we were. Cutter, no longer staring at his clone, ran over to me putting pressure on my shoulder. "Lock her with the others since she cannot play nice, just like her Grandfather."

I stood up ignoring the pain in my shoulder. "What do you mean my Grandfather?" I asked not sure I really wanted to know the answer. She let out a laugh that somehow made the pain in my shoulder worse. "Your dear Granddaddy failed to assist me in telling where his journal on the anomalies was located. Poor chap, it's a shame what the mind can lose." She said looking up the ceiling. Her attention then turned to me. "He was of no further use to me."

My breath caught in my throat at what she was implying. "You're saying-" I began before she cut me off.

"I killed him Skyla. Smothered him with his own pillow. You should be thanking me really. I put him out of his misery." I saw red and lunged at the woman who had taken yet another person from my life. Nick and one of the clones stopped me, pulling me back. The pain in my shoulder began to increase as my anger flowed through me. "Nick. Kill her if you can," I whispered. He looked at me with wide eyes as the minion who stopped my lunge grasped both of my shoulders pulling me towards the doors. I screamed in pain as he jostled the wound. "You're gonna get yours, Helen! I don't care if its the last thing I do." I watched as she smirked again as the doors closed. I struggled and fought with the minion as much as I could until he stopped in front of a storage closet. He opened the door and dropped me inside unceremoniously then shut the door.

Everyone who was in the room stopped what they were doing and ran over to me as I held my shoulder. Blood continued to seep through my fingers. "Oh my god, you've been shot," Sarah said as she looked around for something to use to put pressure on the wound. Jenny took off her sweater and handed it to Sarah.

Tears began to spill down my cheeks. I was unsure if it was due to the fact that I was shot or that Helen had killed my grandfather. "Helen- she killed my Grandfather." I was able to mutter out as Lester put the sweater to my shoulder, slowly applying pressure. "First Stephen, now my Grandfather." I looked up to the others. "I tried to shoot her, I think I grazed her. Then one of her minions shot me."

"We're working on a way to get out of this," Jenny said aloud. I nodded at her.

"Please do so. I really need to kill her." I whispered. I felt suddenly dizzy, probably from blood loss. Jenny Sarah, Connor, and Abby walked over to the computer to continue what they were doing before I had come in.

Lester stayed by my side, applying pressure to my wound. Neither of us paid any attention to what the others were doing. "You know," he began. "Killing her will not bring you peace," he said.

I looked up to my boss, tears still streaming down. "I know. But it's a start at least. She needs to pay for what she's done. Not only to me but to Nick too. She's a wretched woman who needs to perish."

Lester looked to me in a way that I never thought I would know. It was a look of sympathetic compassion. He settled next to me and kissed my temple. "I know. I know." He said as he continued to hold the pressure on my shoulder.

It wasn't much later when Lester and I heard a grunt from outside the door. The minion guard was no longer standing as the door opened. Becker appeared, dragging the unconscious minion into the room. "Everyone okay?" he asks.

Lester had me place my hand on my shoulder as he stood up. "Helen's taken over the ARC." he stated standing slightly in front of me.

Becker nodded. "I know. Her people are crawling all over the place."

I let out a mocking laugh. "Oh, you mean the identical twin people that you didn't believe when Cutter and I explained it?" I asked from my spot on the ground. Lester looked back to me and helped me stand up.

Becker walked closer to me when he saw my blood-stained hands holding the sweater to my shoulder. "You're injured."

I smiled a fake smile. "I'm fine." I wouldn't let him treat me like a wounded child, no matter how much I wanted to curl in the corner and sleep through the pain.

"How many men have you got with you?" Lester said ignoring my bickering moment.

"Just me. Should be enough." Becker said. I let out a snort, of course, it was just him. The knight in shining tape to save the day.

"Becker, we need to get this to the PA system," Connor said holding out a CD.

"What is it? It doesn't matter. You come with me, the rest of you stay here." Becker said.

Becker looked at me before Connor got up to follow him out the door. I was unsure of the look he was giving me but I rolled my eyes and successfully held my tongue in not saying anything as to being ordered to stay in the godforsaken storage closet.

It had been a couple of minutes since the two had left to put the voice recording of Helen over the PA system. Sarah had explained to me that she believed the minions were controlled by Helen's voice, chosen to obey. She had pulled old security footage from the archives to create a recording stating not to follow her voice anymore. "Do you think they made it?" Sarah asked after her explanation.

"We'll soon find out," Abby said as we stood around waiting for the answer to her question.

A sudden movement caught my eye. Before I could say anything in warning the minion grabbed Lester in a chokehold. "James!" Jenny said she dove to assist, being knocked back into the wall.

Abby and I stood there for a moment, assessing the situation. When Lester went limp, deeming he was now unconscious and placed on the floor, Abby began to attack the minion. She grabbed ahold of him and was thrown around into the wall. The minion walked over to Jenny who was now standing and Sarah. He picked them up by their throats, choking them. I grabbed the nearest thing I could find, some piece of forgotten construction wood, and began hitting him with it. Each time I moved my arm to bring the wood down on his head I winced at the pain in my shoulder. "Come on Connor!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

As if he had heard me Helen's voice came over the PA system. "Do nothing, obey my voice. Stop, do nothing, obey my voice." It repeated over and over again on a loop. The minion dropped Jenny and Sarah, obeying the recording. I dropped the piece of wood thankful I wouldn't have to use my arms anymore to beat the man. I watched as Lester regained consciousness and stood up. He walked over to the minion and punched him, knocking him out as he fell to the floor.

Now that the minion was taken care of we were all safe. I noticed the gun in his holster, it was similar to the one I had just used. I looked around at everyone as they tried to catch their breath. I took the distracted opportunity. I bent over the unconscious man and unhooked his gun from the holster and stood up. Without a word, to the others, I ran out the door. "Stop Skyla, it's not worth it." I heard Jenny say faintly as I ran down the hall where Helen and Cutter were.

I ran down the familiar twists and turns of the hallway to get to the main room in the ARC. As I rounded a corner I slammed right into someone and dropped the gun. I looked up noticing I had run into Helen, the one I wanted to kill. The gun was now on the other side of the hall, just barely outside of my reach. Ignoring the pain in my shoulder I balled my hand in a fist and punched her in the face. She stumbled back for a moment before she punched back right into the gun wound. I let out a scream as I collapsed to the ground in pain. Helen ran down the hall towards the exit.

It took a moment for the pain to subside to a decent level where I could think clearly. I had a horrible thought remembering that Helen was alone. I stood up in fear of the worst, that she had killed Nick, after all, I bolted in the direction I was going before. I began to jog and it turned into a run as I tried to make it to where I believed Nick was.

I don't know if I first heard the boom or felt the heat as an explosion break out from the main area of the ARC, sending me flying into the wall behind me. All I knew at that moment was I was finally pain-free as I slipped into unconsiousness.


	9. Memories

**Just a heads up everyone, this one is a tear-jerker and please remember this story is canon. You should know what that means at this point in the series. Thank you for reading and feel free to review. **

It had been just shy of a couple of weeks after Stephen had passed. I had just come to terms that he was not on a holiday and would actually not be coming home. Losing someone was always a difficult process and to handle, it always varied from person to person and death to death. I had turned my sorrow into anger when I came to the realization it was all Helen. If Helen was out of the picture none of this would have happened.

No one had heard anything from Nick in a couple of days, it was something that was not normal so I made my way over to his flat. I walked up the steps and knocked on the door, waiting for an answer. It was an unnaturally sunny day today. It was the first time in a while where I felt I could have worn makeup, without worrying it would all come off two seconds later from tears. Alas, I didn't just in case.

Nick opened the door. His disheveled appearance took me by surprise. His hair was unkempt, he had the beginnings of a beard growing and his clothes were dirty. "Hello Skyla," he stated as he opened the door further to let me in. Apparently, his appearance didn't bother him one bit. I cautiously walked into the flat behind him as he made his way to the lounge. "Connor said you've called out the last couple of days. Thought I would stop by to see how you're holding up." I stated as Nick sat on his couch. I sat next to him.

He didn't say anything, just stared at the wall. It reminded me of how sometimes my Grandfather would stare into the wall, reliving memories to a point. After a couple of moments, I reached out and grasped his hand, knowing exactly what he was thinking. He was reliving the last day Stephen was on this earth. Trying to calculate how things could have gone differently. If he would have done this one thing would he still be alive?

Nick snapped out of his staring contest and turned to me. He gave a forced smile and looked into my eyes. There was a sense of panic there before he broke down into tears. "It's my fault that he's dead. It should've been me that went into that room," he said between his sobs. I shook my head. "No, it wasn't your fault." A tear fell down my face as I watched the man I had grown to love in a fatherly way break down in front of me. "We've talked about this. Neither of us could have changed the outcome of this. Only Helen could have." I explained, pinning the blame on our mutual enemy.

He shook his head. "No, Helen loved him. She wanted him to join her." Even though I already knew this truth, knew that Stephen had betrayed him with Helen in the worst way a friend could, it still felt like a dagger to the chest. Knowing that they had a fling, an affair.

"She didn't love him enough to save him. Something that you were prepared to do. Me, I was still in too much shock over it all to register what was happening. He sacrificed himself for us." I explained. "Not for her. In the end, he knew that you and I would forgive him for his wrongs and love him all the same."

Nick continued to shake his head. "It should have been me," he whispered. Something ignited in my chest when he repeated his words. I lifted my hand and slapped him across the face, shocking both of us.

"You did not cause this. This was all Helen's doing. If she was out of the picture, Stephen would still be here. She brought all those creatures to that place. She lured us like sheep there. She caused this to happen, not me and definitely not you." I yelled the words, I noticed I was suddenly standing in front of Nick who was still looking at me with wide eyes.

I knelt in front of him and grasped his hands looking up to him with a pleading face. "You need to stop blaming yourself. It's eating at you. You did nothing wrong that day. Neither did I. Yes, we had words with Stephen. Both of us felt the betrayal when he believed Helen and went with her. But that is the keyword in all of this. The key to this whole thing. Helen. Not you or me." I continued to repeat my words, slowly convincing him that we weren't to blame for his death. It wasn't until his knuckle connected with my cheek to wipe away some of the tears that were still falling when I realized how upset I really still was over this whole ordeal.

Nick pulled me from the ground and sat me next to him, slowly wrapping his arms around me into a hug. I wrapped my arms around him as we both continued to cry. We stayed like that for what felt like hours. I never would recall how long we sat there in each other's arms mourning our lost friend. When we stopped crying we just sat there next to each other. My head on his shoulder and his resting on my own head.

Nick let out a little laugh. I moved my head to look up at his face, wondering what on earth he could be laughing at. "Remember that time when you stayed late with us going over other students midterms and you two got into an argument over Jurassic Park novels and how Michael Crichton describes the dinosaurs?"

I let out a small laugh at the memory. "If I remember right I was saying that, for a writer, he described the animals impeccably. And he said that it was all nonsense."

Nick let out a little louder of a laugh as the memory began to play in his mind. "You two got so heated about it, I finally had to split you two up and explain it was just one person's interpretation of a dinosaur and we would probably never know what they truly looked liked."

"Then you made us go out to get pizza and beer and bring it back to make up," I said letting a couple of tears fall at the memory. "He really was a stubborn ass when he wanted to be."

Nick let out a weary sigh. "I always knew at some point you two would get together. I thought it would happen sooner rather than later."

I let out a chuckle. "It was a daydream of mine sitting in your lectures. Not that I wasn't paying attention of course. But on the stuff I really knew by heart, I would let my mind wander to what it would be like to be with Stephen." I could feel the weight of my words as I said them. The weight of the whole conversation was beginning to weigh on my chest. "Talk about coincidences. I don't know where I would be if he hadn't walked into that tea shop when he did. Of all the gin joints in all the world, right?" I said letting out a sigh and trying to hold my tears back. "Despite what's happened," I began as my eyes teared up, "I wouldn't change a damn thing if it meant not spending the time I had with him." The tears began to flow down again. "I'm happy for the memories I got to have with him. The relationship that I got to experience with him. Trust me it goes without saying I would rather have him still here with me. But I got to spend his last months here with him. I'm grateful for that."

Nick tightened the arm around my shoulders. "Me too. I know he hadn't been that happy in a long time. He loved you." I nodded my head as we continued to let out silent tears and talk about the good times we had with Stephen.

I felt like I was being rocked to sleep. Like I was a wee babe and my mother was rocking me to get me to sleep. Suddenly the rocking stopped and I felt like I was being put down. I tried to open my eyes but was unable to.

It had been so long since I had been treated in such a loving way. The last person to treat me with such tenderness, such love, was Stephen. Maybe this was all a horrid dream. Maybe he had never died and it was all just one crazy nightmare. "Stephen?" I muttered as I slowly began to regain consciousness. I tried to open my eyes, the light stung them. I wanted to see his face. I longed to see his face, to see his brilliant blue eyes. Once my eyes finally opened I looked up to see Becker. His face was covered in soot as he looked down at me concerned. It was that moment I remembered it wasn't a nightmare, that all these events had indeed happened in real life. "What happened?" I choked out. My throat hurt and I was unsure why.

Becker shook his head. "There was an explosion," he said. I remembered I was running back to Nick and Helen and ran into Helen. I sat up suddenly, Becker's hand was placed on my good shoulder, an attempt to avoid the sudden movement that I had made. "Where's Nick?" I asked barely able to speak let alone breath. My lungs were on fire. I noticed Abby and Jenny walking in my direction noticing that I was conscious. Sarah and Lester stood a couple of feet away looking at the burning ARC. "Where's Connor?" I asked when they got closer noting that I couldn't find him in the commotion.

"He went back inside for Helen. Connor went after him when he didn't come out." Abby said with tears brimming in her eyes. I shoved Becker's hand away from me as I abruptly stood up. I ignored the pain in my head and the sudden wave of nausea and lightheadedness that overcame me.

"Skyla, you need to sit down," Becker said.

I looked up to him and shook my head. "I'm going in," I stated as I began to wobble toward the burning building.

Becker got in front of me. "No you're bloody not," he said holding out his arm to my good shoulder to stop me.

"You don't understand, Nick is in there and he needs my help!" I yelled at him, tears brimming in my eyes.

For the first time, Becker looked like he was torn in emotion. He looked empathetic. "I understand but I cannot let you put your life at risk to save him," he argued.

"You let Connor go! You let him run into the burning building to save a man that he looks up to. Why can't you let me do the same? He's practically my father for christ's sake!" I pushed Becker and he pushed back.

"I can't let you go in." He said sternly. His eyes looked to be brimming with his own tears. I stood there staring up at him in anger as tears began to fall down my eyes. I knew I shouldn't go in and I knew I could never make it past Becker.

"Oh my god," Jenny's voice sent chills down my spine. I looked past Becker to see Connor carrying an unconscious Nick out of the building. The soot on Connor's face showed his own lines of tears.

Even though my lungs burned and my throat was raw I let out a horrified scream and I tried to run in their direction. Becker caught me and handed me off to one of his security details who held onto me as his life depended on it. I watched as Becker helped Connor lower Nick to the ground. He wasn't moving and it didn't look like he was breathing. I couldn't hear anything around me but my screams and my heartbeat. I watched as Connor opened his mouth. The first words I heard echoed through my head. "It's too late."

In a disbelief rage, I elbowed the soldier that had a hold of me and punched him in the face as he regained his footing. I ran as fast as I could over to the group surrounding Nick. The moment I laid my eyes on Nick's lifeless face my legs began to crumble beneath me. I felt someone grab me before I hit the pavement as I screamed and sobbed uncontrollably. Slowly the person who held me lowered me to the ground. Once we were both sitting the person's arm held my head in comfort. For a brief moment, I glanced up and registered that it was Becker who had a hold of me as I sobbed into his chest.

Nick was gone, a small bullet hole in his unmoving chest. His lifeless eyes stared up at the blue sky.


End file.
